The biscuit jar fell to the tiled hall floor as soon as we crossed the threshold,

and the lamp was missing a vital screw.

I fixed the lamp with a spare screw

from the tool cabinet in the garage

but that is where things started unravelling.Washing lines beckoned,windows needed cleaning,and whilst I have the squirty bottle why not do the mirrors tooand those pictures leaning against the wall,find a space to hang them them and clean their dirty glass, start supper, boil some potatoes for a fish pie(because it's fish pie weather again),return to the high windows with a ladderbecause a swivel chair is not a good idea,I see that now, but it's only a tiny bruise,get a close up view of a glass lampshadewith its mini-mortuary of dead flies,dismantle it with difficulty,spot the discarded screws from the lamp-fixing exercise,take them back to the garage,turn a deaf ear to everything calling and hollering in the garageand hurry out to be reminded of the washing lineby an impending shower,rush in and hear the potatoes boiling over,catch sight of some scarves put to soak.By whom? When?Remember the hanging baskets by the front doorand water them in the hopethat they will last until next week.Water cascades off the parched soilonto my shoes.Pick beans for supper but get arrestedby the sight of this creature -

unlike anything I have ever seen beforeand must be photographed and identified. Anyone?Books fail me, so resort to Google,and whilst here decide to have a little sit downand attempt a blog post butBlogger refuses to save and logs me outdeleting everything I have written thus far.I tear the pinny off, eat large quantities of fish pieand peanut butter fudge and startall over again.Edited to add:And the job that fell off the conveyor belt?The lightbulb in the bathroomwhich, as I discovered later that night,I had failed to replace in its holder.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Buddleia self-seeds all over the gardenin the most inhospitable placesand because it is known as the butterfly bush I have let it be.Sadly there has been a distinct lack of butterfliesuntil today, when I saw this beautiful peacock butterflyfeeding on the flowers.I attribute this success to the fact that I have left,for the first time,a patch of Stinging Nettlesand a large clump of Golden Hop,both being the preferred foodplants of the caterpillars.

Monday, 18 July 2011

At river, lake and sea side,we saw fish leaping up and kingfishersflashing by - recognition coming after the fact.Swallows and swifts grazed the surfaceto scoop up insects rising.Swans braked vertically for a crash landing,wings beating with the noiseof a thunder board and then recovering their poise,swam sedately upstream.Ducks bobbed and uptailed,men canoed,our host bailed120 litres from his dinghy.Waves rolled in and deposited their deadwreathed in weeds.Monsters emerged as the tide recededand cows slumbered like a pride of lions, in a glade at the water's edge.Perfect pebbles striped, mottled, layered,begging to be selected,had lost their shining allurewhen pockets were later emptied.